Flexible paint roller



July 30, 1968 E. s. BlscHoFF FLEXI BLE PAINT ROLLER Filed Nov. 21, 1966 United States Patent O 3,394,423 FLEXIBLE PAINT ROLLER Edward S. Bischoff, Van Pabstlaau 13, Voorburg, Netherlands Filed Nov. 21, 1966, Ser. No. 603,074 3 Claims. (Cl. 1S-114) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE Flexible paint roller containing a cluster of bristles positioned within an extension of a flexible, pain-t or coating absorbing facing material attached to the periphery of a paint roller and extending beyond the free end of the roller. A flexible, paint or coating absorbing mass can be used in place of a cluster of bristles.

This invention relates to an improvement in a paint roller or liquid surface coating tool. More specifically, a llexible paint roller is disclosed and described in the following specilication and claims.

One of the most widely exercised industrial functions in the world today is the application of liquid surface coatings. Surfaces are coated for preservation against oxidization, corrosion, and discoloration, as well as to beautify by color. The labor expended and the cost of material is high in both industrial and do-it-yourself activity. There has been Inuch technical progress in the improvement of liquid coatings themselves. This has outpaced development in the techniques for applying those coatings.

The present means for applying paint or liquid surface coatings are varied and of distinctly different techniques. Under present practice, paints or surface coatings are either brushed on a surface, rolled on a surface, wiped on, daubed, sprayed on, or applied by electrical static impulse. Because of the magnitude of coating activity, the Search for improvements in techniques of paint application portends a high industrial benefit for any technique improvement achieved. During the past several decades there has been one major transition whereby the use of paint rollers has displaced brush application in many situations involving flat surfaces. This is well known to all.

In my United States Patent No. 2,932,043 I was awarded inventive rights to the combination of brush and roller elements in a single tool. In United States Patent No. 2,959,800 I was further awarded inventive rights to a snap on means of assembling a paint roller of this kind to its gooseneck and handle.

A yet further improvement in the paint roller whereby the roller is designed in flexible structural form to produce a flexible or bendable roller is the subject of this invention. The principal benefit of this novel improvement is to achieve improved paint roller application by rolling, brushing, wiping, and daubing on irregular surfaces of nearly unlimited contour, shape and structure, where heretofore paint rollers have been limi-ted generally to application on ilat surfaces.

The flexible paint roller can be used to brush, daub, wipe, or roll with separate or combined motions. The ilexible roller thus paints faster on irregular contours than is possible with conventional application tools.

A further benefit of the flexible roller is that it can be dipped directly into the paint supply and the surplus paint wiped olf the roller on the side or lip of the container as with a brush. This eliminates the conventional paint trays required with rigid rollers.

The flexible paint roller provides a further improvement on my patented roller brush, in that dipping of paint from the end is virtually eliminated.

Turning now to the specifications and drawings:

3,394,423 Patented July 30, 1968 FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the flexible paint roller and handle device.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the flexible roller member with brush insert, in bent position.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the roller member with brush insert in normal or straight position.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the roller means using internally at one end a mass of the roller coating material to give for-m to the roller member.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the cloth sleeve covering associated with the roller shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the moulded plastic tubular form around which the fibrous material is constructed to give shape to the roller.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the axle and bearing means.

Referring now to the drawings for the specific details of the invention, 2 represents the handle by which the flexible roller is manipulated by the operator. A metal gooseneck, 3 is an extension of the axis 7 in the form of a bent rod or tube, engaging the handle 2. The roller means is referred to generally by the No. 4. In FIG. l, 5 designates the corner of a wall surface on which the roller is applying paint.

In FIG. 2 the sectional details of the roller are shown constructed with an internally attached brush member 13. The cylindrical roller form 6 is joumaled on the axle 7 with a bearing 8 at one end, and a bearing 9 at the other. The snap-on device 10 as set out in my Patent No. 2,959,800 fastens the cylinder, removably on its axle and bearings. A cluster of bristles 13 is cemented axially at 14 to the outer end wall 19 of the roller cylinder.

As shown in FIGURES 2, 3 and 4 the -roller cylinder 6 is covered on its outer periphery with a textile fabric sleeve 11 with a fibrous nap surface 12, said sleeve extending axially beyond the limiting wall 19 of the cylindrical form.

In FIGS. 2 and 3 it is seen that the protruding sleeve 11, in double thickness encases the cluster of bristles or brush element indicated as 13. This imparts cylindrical form to the free end of the roller. The sleeve 11 encasing the bristles allows flexibility for this end of the roller member to bend as the brush is manipulated, achieving wiping effect, as well as the ability to roll over irregular contours. This flexibility is further enhanced when the cylindrical core form 6 is made of bendable material.

In FIG. 4 an alternative structural roller member is shown in which the brush elements 13 of FIGS. 2 and 3 are replaced by a mass of the sleeve textile coating material disposed inwardly, being self encased within the textile sleeve 11, held in contact at 15 by a constricting means 18 either a string or metal ring, which bunches the sleeve material into the tightness desired. The end of the sleeve material at 20 is cemented upon the end wall of the cylindrical form at 19. Thus as in FIG. 4 the flexible end of the paint roller is shown in cylindrical forml achieved by bundling inward a mass of the roller covering material itself, same being cemented to the end wall of the roller form.

FIG. 5 shows the textile sleeve of the flexible paint roller after fabrication and before turning partially inside out prior to mounting it up on the periphery of the roller form. The textile cover sleeve is cemented to the periphery of roller form 6 in construction. In FIG. 5 at points 18 the libre cover is constricted in the construction process to achieve the bunching demonstrated in FIG. 4 4when the textile sleeve is mounted upon the roller cylinder.

FIG. 6 shows in sectional view the flexible roller form with end apertures at 16 and 17 for journalling the axle member shown in FIG. 7. The snap on attachment of the cylinder to the axle is achieved when the knob 10 is inserted forceably in the constricted aperture at 16. At

the same time the bearing member 8 comes in rotatable contact rwith aperture surface of the cylindrical form at 17.

Atlhough the preferred embodiment of the flexible paint roller is described and illustrated in this specification, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that other modes of applying the principle of this invention may be used in addition to those specifically set forth herein. Right is reserved to such modifications as fall within the scope of the following claims which I desire to secure by Letters Patent.

I claim:

1. A coating applicator comprising in combination a flexible cylindrical roller,

means rotatably mounting said roller,

a handle engaging one end of said means,

a exible, coating absorbing facing material attached to the periphery of said roller and extending a substantial distance beyond the free end of said roller, and

a cluster of bristles located within the extension of said facing material, one end of said bristles being `secured to the free end of said roller, and the other end of each of said bristles extending substantially to the extremity of said extension of the facing material to provide a coating portion at the free end of the applicator.

2. A coating applicator comprising in combination a flexible cylindrical roller,

means rotatably mounting said roller,

a handle engaging one end of said means,

a exible, coating absorbing facing material attached to the periphery of said roller and extending a substantial distance beyond the free end of said roller, and

a exible, coating absorbing mass located within the extension of said facing material and extending a substantial distance from the free end of the roller, one end of said mass being secured to the free end of said lroller, and the other end of said mass extending substantially to the extremity of said extension of the facing material to provide a coating portion at the free end of the applicator.

3. An applicator of claim 2 wherein the flexible m'ass comprises additional flexible, coating absorbing material continued Within the space dened by said extension in corrugated pattern, 'and secured to the free end of said roller.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,663,892 12/ 1953 Schaefer 15-230.11 2,932,043 4/ 1960 Bischotf 15-562 3,204,276 9/ 1965 Kennedy 15-230.11 3,228,087 1/1966 Stoddard et al. 15-230.11 X

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,388,970 1/1965 France.

848,193 9/ 1960 Great Britain.

DANIEL BLUM, Primary Examiner. 

